Burn With Me
by feralwanderer
Summary: She was a formidable adversary, a challenge in young Bens mind, as the current plethora of Jedi students had grown dull. She was resilient and their Force bond was strong, it was alluring, it drew him in. Never had he thought a girl so strong would step on his toes like she did. He wanted her. And he got her. Now the only hurdle would be taking her to the Dark side with him. OC.
1. Chapter 1

_A New Student - A New Comrade_

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Another student was set to arrive today.

Ben's eyes would crack open every few minutes to watch the ominous black archway that led into the large room they had taken up - waiting for a fresh new face to loom in through the shadows. He was always curious to see new students his uncle would take in. Different races, different stories from around the galaxy, it was all quite interesting, especially when you're around the same particularly bland people round the clock.

They were supposed to be meditating. He glanced around cautiously, as he'd been caught and reprimanded several times by Master Luke for not taking meditation seriously, so the cautious route he would take. Luke's eyes were closed, in deep meditation it seemed, but still fully aware of his surroundings. His eyes panned over to the other students in the class that were all scattered around the large empty room. They all ranged in age. He was one of the older ones, at age 14, while there were some very young ones present, some at age 5. There were human faces like his of different colours, faces of the rainbow as two Twi'Lek children were part of the class. One of them had also been looking around the room as they couldn't focus, their large amber eyes catching his brown ones for a brief moment before he tore his eyes away. He usually took meditating seriously - in fact it was one of his favorite parts of lessons with Luke. It was quiet and he could keep to himself, something he always took seriously. But he loved seeing new faces - so today's meditation could wait.

That's when he saw it, a face peer through the darkness of the hall, a nervous look etched on their peachy skin. _She's human_. He thought to himself as he watched her through his peripheral vision. He wasn't all surprised, most of their class were human, so he confessed he didn't know what it was he was expecting. With hopes slightly trampled, Ben's attention latched onto Luke who had by then taken to his feet.

"Our new student has arrived." Luke smiled warmly in her direction, his feet carrying him over to the archway in which she stood silently. "Corana Horizonis, right?"

"Yes." She gave him a nod in his direction, followed by a small smile, her eyes glancing over at the students who had all perked up at the noise.

Ben could admit he was a tad surprised. She wasn't as young as he was expecting the new student to be. She could possibly be his own age, an age far too late for most children to begin Jedi training. Ben's brows furrowed as Luke had ushered her into the middle of the room, introducing her to the rest of the students. Ben cocked his head. If she was let in at such a late age then that must mean she was strong with the Force, a viable adversary, perhaps. None of these welps were good sparring partners for him - so he hoped she was good.

She placed her packsack by her feet and knelt down about a meter away from look, and a good three meters away from himself, glancing over her shoulders as some of the students waved and welcomed her into their ranks. They all seemed surprised as well, _so old_ , one of the young Twi'Lek's murmured with a playful smile.

Ben watched her from the corner of his eye as she immediately began meditation upon Luke's behest, head dipping low, her waterfall of blond hair spiraling around her head. They had sparring after meditation - he'd see what she packed then.

Luke lulled them from their deep meditation in a slow and calming way, only proceeding when he saw all sets of eyes on him. "Alright, now is when we begin our sparring session." He commenced as he motioned over to the weapon rack nailed to the wall behind him, grabbing her attention. "We have our basic Light Sabers to use since you don't have your own yet." Ben was the only one in the class who had made his own light saber. It was basic, just a more stylized hilt and a green kyber crystal. The others were a tad too young to grasp the concept.

She stepped over to the rack and wrapped her fingers around the grey and black hilt of the saber, hefting it off the shelf it sat on. She turned it around before her eyes, inspecting it, and turning it over in the palms in her hands. It was important you could fit well with a saber, and it seemed she deemed it worthy, as she gave a small nod in Luke's direction and walked back into the middle of the room.

Luke rubbed his hands together. "Well this makes things a lot easier." His blue eyes panned over to Ben for a small second. "I'll have you as Ben's sparring partner, that way I can take a break." He chuckled to himself for a moment before glancing around at the younger ones to give them their instruction.

Luke had been sparring with Ben for a while now, as the second oldest in the Jedi program, 11, dropped out. It would have only been fair for the younglings that they weren't to be paired with him, as his skills were well above their limit.

Corana glimpsed over her shoulder to Ben, sizing him up, he noticed, as her eyes panned up and down. His brows twitched as he then retaliated and did the same - even if he had already done this the first few seconds she walked in here. She had to be at least 5'8" to his 5'11", making for a physically good sparring partner.

She paced over and outstretched her hand to his as a formal greeting. "Corana." She introduced herself strongly and proudly, and as he took her hand, he noticed her strong grip. He appreciated that.

"Ben." He greeted her as their hands retreated back to both their sides. They both held their sabers firmly in their hands and at the same time, one green and one blue ray of light shot from the hilts, creating that oh so satisfying sound in both their ears. "Do you even have fighting experience?" He didn't want to totally overpower her here, especially since last that happened Luke reprimanded him.

"Plenty. With lightsabers, no, with regular weapons, yes." She smirked as she squared up, her stance strengthening. He took her word for it, as not just the average Joe would know a strong position like that. Once Luke had given the go ahead, they both stepped forward and the sabers clashed with a loud sizzle, their eyes meeting, her hazel ones staring deep down into his brown ones. A viable adversary indeed, he inwardly smirked.

Ben was quite impressed by the end of their sparring match. Aside from Luke he hadn't had quite an exhilarating battle in a while. It was refreshing. Luke even seemed impressed, as through most of their battle Ben had seen him watching them with what looked like a proud expression on his features.

Ben thought she was powerful. It was almost immediately as their sabers clashed that the two had felt it - through their strong connection with the Force, they had a bond. He wondered if she swayed in her loyalties. He watched her as she returned back to the rack and gently place the hilt back down in its place.

She would be perfect to take with him when he was to join Snoke.

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owo. _I really like the idea of baby Ben having a bestie/girlie while in the Jedi order. Here's my take on it._

 _Review if you enjoyed? C: thanks!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Personal Grove_

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The weather outside their Jedi compound had greatly improved within a week of Corana's appearance to their order.

Ben thought maybe she was a good omen. They followed Luke through the large archway that looked over the vast empty lands before them. The new Jedi temple had been constructed far out, a good ways away from any civilization. Luke had wanted it this way, and so it was done. Ben liked it. He was away from home and that was his ultimate goal, driven under the guidance of his Uncle Luke with nothing around the temple to cloud his mind. Vast fields of green encircled the temple, mountains to the North with large splotches of Giant pink petal trees. The aroma filled their nostrils - it smelled good outside because of these trees, and Ben noticed it made Luke smile.

"We'll do meditation outside today." He instructed casually as he began down the step, his boots placing down unto the terra below, the group not having been outside for about a week because of a massive electrical storm that gloomed over the lands. Luke began to explain to Corana that she could choose anywhere she liked to meditate outside, and by that time most of the younglings had pranced off into the grass in a fit of laughter and cheers, and Ben himself had stalked off toward his favored place to spend alone time.

It was a small grove within a circle of trees, an opening in the tree line. He sat down, flattening the grass beneath him as he did so, crossing his legs and placing his hands on his knees. He was blanketed in a cool shade as the large pink petals cast overhead protected him from the large star above, just a few enchanting rays of yellow pouring onto the green grass below. Small patches of white flower buds dotted the grass and slithered up the thick tree trunks around him. It was an enchanting place, really. He quite enjoyed it.

Ben let his eyes flutter shut, attempting to focus in on his much needed meditation when suddenly a crack sounded out from his left, a crack much too heavy for a bird or small land critter. His head snapped to the side and he narrowed his eyes as a figure climbed over the twisted roots of the trees.

 _It's her_. He thought, letting his guard down for the time being.

She looked surprised and slightly embarrassed as she apparently had encroached upon his personal space. "Sorry." Her voice lulled softly amid the gentle tussle of the large pink petals above their heads.

He wondered what drew her to this specific area. Surely she did not see him go off in his own direction. Maybe she was meant to be here at this moment. "It's alright." He saw her perk up a tad within the split second after he had answered her. "You can stay if you'd like."

Corana smiled and played with the hem of her beige tunic, taking one last step over a large root and into the circle of grass before her. "Thanks." She had a sweet, warm smile. His brow twitched. It made him feel comforted, like he was at ease, accompanied by some sort of weird 'at-home' feeling. She sat a meter away from him, sitting her bum on the back of her calves, hands settled in her lap as she looked around in wonderment. "It's quite nice here." She commented, hazel eyes alive with joy and amazement.

"It is." He stared her down as she continued to be enticed by her surroundings. He didn't like to admit it but he was somewhat grateful she had appeared in that thicket of trees. They hadn't had much communication aside from when they would spar, but really they didn't need it. It was some sort of weird familiarity they had felt with each other, like how close friends needn't contact each other all the time to remain close. They sat in silence and he watched her try and focus in on meditation, but it seemed her head was somewhere else, as her eyes kept sliding open and she'd bite her lip with frustration.

She glanced over and saw that he as well was not focusing at their task at hand. "How long have you been in the program?" She questioned curiously, twirling her finger in the long green grass idly.

"A few years now." His mother had sent him off to train with Luke, painfully adamant that he be sent off with his Uncle. For good reason he supposed. Luke could use the extra hands at times. It was hard being the only adult who was capable of teaching but as Ben grew with the years he had helped his uncle out tremendously. He was set to be Luke's Padawan, after all. "And how about you, how were you discovered?"

"There's a few caves near my home with a good abundance of kyber crystals. Luke sensed my connection to the Force on his last expedition out to the caves." She explained coolly, watching him as he watched her.

"Hm. His last trip to the caves was months ago. What took you so long to come here?"

"At first I didn't want to join.." The tone in her voice still slightly indicated that, it seemed to him. "But I thought about it every day and my parents said that I should take up the offer, Luke had sounded pretty unyielding about it. So I packed up and here I am."

"You must be strong with the Force if Luke had requested you at this age."

"My parents had told me that." She shrugged. "You must also be strong, I'll assume you and I are around the same age. If you've only been here a few years that leaves you with maybe twelve or thirteen? Still pretty old compared to the rest of these younglings." Although they had a sense of familiarity, the two of them still tiptoed around each other, gathering intel on the other, sizing the other up.

"You're right. Originally I had planned to train alone.. My mother had other plans and sent me off here to train." Well, his original plans were to train under the guidance of Snoke - but he didn't need much teaching, he was adept in almost every skill line he needed to be a fierce warrior. He had been told to stay under Luke's wing and learn all he could before leaving. So that's what he had planned to continue on doing.

" _Sent_ you here?" She dryly chuckled as she raised a delicate arched brow in his direction. "I thought everyone here was _discovered_."

"Most are. Luke is my uncle so I've always had the option to train with him." He casually explained to her, immediately wondering just why he had revealed this to her so soon. It wasn't something he openly told anyone, not because of embarrassment, but he just wasn't extremely social, especially on the topic of family. He smirked as she gawked for a moment before collecting herself to upkeep her cool demeanor.

"Interesting." Her voice was silky as it spilled from between her shell pink lips, contrasting with her sharp features and rugged look in her eyes. Despite having such a tough look in her eyes they looked soft and inviting, warm, calm. Ben had to look away, feeling like he was staring, he didn't like being stared at so he figured she wouldn't be any different. Even if she was a sight for sore eyes.

They didn't need to exchange any more words. They just sat in silence for the rest of their meditation under the roofing of pink petals.

xx

Ben pursed his lips as the rest of the students had left the large foyer where they had sparred for the day. Corana especially, as she gracefully exited through the large archway to find a spot outside for meditation. He watched her leave as his left thumb grazed over his left cheek, brows twitching as the calloused skin of his thumb ran over the sensitive singed skin. They called it a draw, which he openly stated, but deep down he knew she had won that spar, despite him having years of lightsaber experience over her. His cheeks grew red in embarrassment at this revelation and he quickly swiped his water canteen off the marble flooring and took a large gulp.

He was sour, to put it simply, as he had originally thought he bested the rest of the students. _It's only one spar_. Ben repeated to himself as he set his canteen back down and nonchalantly followed suit and exited through the large doors. He could let one spar go, right? He breathed in noisily through his nostrils as he glanced around, seeing some of the younger kids sitting in a circle in the open field. This loss gave him the drive to strive for perfection, as he could only leave with the nearest point to excellence as he could. Snoke would accept no less. It burned deep in his stomach, to desire and passion to learn the rest of the Force, the dark side of the Force. With Corana being uncanny in her abilities to push him further he knew he'd reach that in no time.

Ben veered to the right speedily, not wanting anything to do with the younger kids and their open circle of meditation. Instead he'd take to his personal grove to brood alone, as he saw fit for having lost a match. Venting his anger out through meditation was infinitely better than lashing out at his belongings.

He stopped in the clearance leading to _his_ grove. His. _Why is she here_? He watched her as she stood beside the large tree trunk, almost camouflaged with her beige tunic and beige bark. She stood silently, eyes half lidded with a small smile, her fingers carefully toying with the small flowers lining the vines that wriggled up into the petal. It fascinated him how she could be so tough in battle but so gentle outside of it. Though hating to admit it, he guessed he didn't mind her presence.

Corana twirled around with a slight rattled look on her face, her eyes setting on the small mark on his cheek. He saw her try and refrain it, but the corners of her lips curled upwards into a sheepish toothy smile, showing off the slight dimples she had in her flawless skin. As he took a step inward she coped him, a large smile still gracing her face, her large hazel eyes conveyed the humor she found in his would. "I'm sorry." It was cute the way she tilted her head to the side a tad. "About.. That." She pointed her long index finger toward the mark.

Ben fought with himself to hold it back but it was so unnatural to him that it just happened - he smiled out of slight embarrassment and slight... He didn't want to address the other feeling, but it made his cheeks burn. "Well.. It makes up for every other time I've beaten you." He tried to play it off collectedly with a grimace, but it only made her grimace grow larger.

"Maybe I gave you all those wins." She settled down in the grass, placing her hands on her knees as she stared up at him, watching as he too took a seat two feet away from her, directly facing her. She noticed how his lip twitched, she could tell just the possibility upset him. "I'm kidding. Today was luck, in all honesty I don't know how I overpowered you when we clashed."

"Don't sell yourself short. It wasn't luck, you're a talented fighter." He told her with a small smile. Complimenting someone's abilities was definitely something new to him. "I've never been bested in battle aside from Master Luke."

"We're also in a class primarily surrounded by younger children." Her laugh was serene as it filled the silence in the air around them. It made him happy, even if her words _were_ a jab at him. "But thank you."

That night as the girls and boys had separated their ways to their respective barracks, Ben watched as she disappeared into the darkness of her rooms. All of these emotions - he hated them. They were silly and weak, and while they still retained those qualities, they made his stomach twist into knots and his mind became clouded.

Ben didn't understand why he felt this way, he hated feeling at a loss, but these feelings.. He wanted to explore them.

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 _Oh my, that's a lot of followers and favourites! Thanks so much!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Letter to the General  
_

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Corana was deep in meditation. Her lids were closed and her features were still as if they were frozen in time, her chest only rising and falling a few times as her breathing slowed down. It gave Ben time to reflect and watch her in amazement. He'd noticed how her lashes curled against her cheeks and how her brows would twitch every so often as something drifted into her mind. He noticed her cheekbones and how the light from above would cast shadows beneath them. Her skin was flawless - pale with a slight hue of rose dusting her cheeks, unmarred and blemish free - unlike his own which had beauty marks scattered about. He hated them.

He was only beginning to grasp the ability to read minds - and although he was one for privacy he couldn't help but peer into her own mind, as his curiosity of her got the better of him. He closed his eyes and focused in on her - it was easy, she was fairly straight forward to read through their bond. She was thinking of a landscape, one of which he could only guess was her home as she had mentioned she grew up on a fruit farm, yards and yards of orchards was what she was looking at. She was reminiscing about home and about her family, and how it was tough to be so far away from them.

He stopped reading her mind as he then noticed she had snapped out of her meditation, pulling away from her own mind and settling back into his, keeping his own eyes shut to portray the look of meditating - he didn't want her to know he had been watching her.

Corana's eyes slowly pulled open, very slowly at that, as the light above burned her eyes. In front of her sat Ben, eyes closed, most likely in deep meditation. She'd rarely been given the chance to study him, as she was always the first to enter meditation and the last to wake up from it. He looked so much more at peace when he was deep in meditation, she observed, as his brows weren't furrowed and there wasn't a slight frown tugging at his lips. She liked the way his tussled dark hair fell over his forehead in tresses. He was pale, like her, and his face donned a small handful of beauty spots - they were interesting and made his face much more unique. She couldn't deny she had feelings for him, those of which were very strong and unexplainable.

Luke had waved them from their reverie from the entrance to the grove as he stepped in, he himself looking around in wonderment at the grove the two shared everyday. "It _is_ nice here, Ben."

Ben glanced over and stared up at his uncle for a second before climbing up to his feet, standing tall beside Luke. Corana followed suite, although she could only match Luke's height. Ben cleared his throat. "What brings you here? Meditation only just began."

Luke gave him a slight nod to acknowledge what he said. "I had a question for you Corana, actually."

She snapped her head up, her hazel eyes meeting Luke's pair of blue eyes. _What could he want with me_? "Yes, Master Luke?" Slight panic arose within her, in fears she had done something wrong within this past little while to get her kicked from the program.

Luke grimaced, a tender soft smile,it was ensuring. "Don't worry." He looked between both her and Ben for a moment. "I was wondering if you felt it was time to head to the Caves."

A giddy smile already found its way to her face as the word 'cave' left his mouth. She'd been anxiously awaiting this moment since she left her home to train - she grew up near a large cave infested with kyber crystals, so it only felt right she could get back to a cave to construct her own weapon. She pointedly nodded. "Yes, I've been waiting for this for some time now."

"Great." Luke smiled warmly. "I'm planning on bringing the younglings to a cave, I feel they're ready to construct their own lightsabers. I know you are ready."

Corana smiled. It felt good knowing Master Luke had faith in her, even when sometimes her own wavered. She must have been excelling at her training if at this early point she was granted access to the crystal caves. "Thank you Master Luke, I will take you up on that offer."

"I know you two prefer seclusion so I'm granting leave for you two to pick a planet to harvest your crystal. I do want you to keep your focus, however; so I only ask of you to choose any planet excluding your homeworld."

"I understand Master Luke." She nodded in agreement. Admittedly, she was a bit bummed. She'd explored those caves all her life so the thought of going back brought back fond memories - but she understood completely. She said her goodbye's to her family with full knowledge that it would be a long time before possibly seeing them again. She'd been getting by just fine - so thinking about them on her homeworld would only break her concentration and her rigorous training.

"Ben can pilot you, I'll entrust our cruiser to you two."

After Luke had left in a three way agreement, Corana glanced over to Ben, who still stood watching the entrance to the grove. "I didn't know you could pilot." She sat down crossed legged in the tall grass, tugging at a patch of longer strands with her fingers, pulling some from the brown dirt below. He didn't answer right away, instead copying her and taking a seat in the grass. "Did Master Luke teach you? I hear he's a fantastic pilot."

Ben shook his head, dark locks of hair falling into his eyes. She could tell she had dived into cold waters, she could see how he squared his jaw, and his eyes became rather cold and clouded, looking off into the trees behind her. "My father did." She bit her tongue as he spoke, his tone was low and foreboding. "And he wasn't a very good teacher."

"Sorry to have upset you." Her words followed his quickly, she panicked, she never intended to send him into a mood, only having seen him this ticked off once. "My father wasn't a good teacher either, if that makes you feel better. I broke my nose twice using a heavy blaster pistol because he never bothered to teach me the correct way to hold it."

She smiled warmly as she saw him lighten up, a smile beginning to form on his lips as she told him that small tidbit of information. "That's why it's crooked, then?"

Her brows furrowed and her hand cupped her nose in an instant, feeling it out with her fingertips in a rush. " _What_?"

With a light chuckle, he shook his head once more. "I'm kidding."

Corana let her hand drop back down to her lap, eyes narrowing at him, but a playful smile toyed on her lips. A playful Ben was much more appreciated than a brooding Ben.

That evening Luke had left Ben in charge of the younglings while he had to investigate suspicious activity in a nearby system. Luke never liked leaving his pupils alone without him but he had full trust in Ben and was confident in his abilities. He'd only done it a few times, but now he felt like he could be more at rest knowing a competent student like Corana was also by Bens side.

Ben watched the common room from afar, leaning against a large white pillar with his arms crossed over his chest. The lights were dim as the sun was just touching the horizon, basking the children in dull orange lights. A group of them sat in the middle, primarily the girls, encircling Corana happily as they chattered about nothing in particular. A few of the boys and a few girls were off on the other side of the room sparring with long wooden sticks, their battle cries filling the room and corridors connecting them to the rest of the temple. Their sticks clashed and the other would play dead, one triumphant as she raised her stick. Two others sat behind a pillar on the opposite side of Ben, reading silently, books to hone their skills.

Ben frowned to himself as he silently surveyed them interacting with one another. He knew his plan. He wouldn't cross Snoke and bail out - it would only result in his end. He was devoted to Snoke - but the pull, it was _so strong_. He thought he struggled before, but he could handle it, and simmer it down slowly, but when she appeared.. He pressed his lips into a thin line and marched down the hallway, the hilt of his weapon lightly thumping against his thigh with each long stride.

Confidently, he walked into Luke's office and personal quarters. Often when Luke was away Ben would gather information on his doings for Snoke, and today would be the same. He st in front of Luke's terminal he rarely used and tapped the buttons on the keyboard, bringing up the terminal home screen. He clicked into the inbox where Luke would receive letters, holograms, important messages - like the one he had received today, Ben saw it in the opened section. They all seemed mostly generic, nothing Snoke would be at all interested in. He clicked into the sent portion and eyeballed the things Luke had sent, again, nothing of significant interest, as Luke wasn't typically the one to spend a lot of time at the terminal when he didn't need to. _(1) Draft_.

He wasn't surprised. "He's writing the General." He murmured to himself as he opened the file, his brown eyes slowly scanning over the green words against the black screen.

 _Leia,_

 _I've been well, you know I'm always well while I'm here. Training is coming along nicely, my pupils are continuing to be hardworking and grasp concepts and ideas rather quickly. I'm lucky to have Ben here, hes of great help with the younglings and when he is not tasked he strives in every lesson. He impresses me every time I see him spar and is able to show me something new he has learned. He's excelling by the day._

 _Through the months I never noticed a change in his behavior, as we once feared. Recently, however; we got a new student, a few months older than Ben. She shows exponential potential, otherwise she wouldn't have been enrolled at such a late age. Her skills are impressive and I knew it would be of great help to have another older student in the class. Things have taken a turn for the better, Leia, things I hadn't expected from this situation. They bonded immediately, and the fear I once harbored for Ben diminished. I don't worry about Ben choosing separation over solidarity-_

The letter had ended there as Luke had yet to finish it yet. Ben clicked it closed as he then sat back in the chair, eyes glazed over as his mind wandered, caught up in his own emotions. He wished Luke wasn't contacting his mother but what could he expect, even with distance separating them they tried to communicate every so often. His heart thudded against his ribcage. _I feel weak_. He seethed, breathing noisily out of his nose, clenching and releasing his fists that sat atop the arm rests. _He's wrong_. Ben stood. _He doesn't know what I'm capable of, he doesn't know what I'm planning_. Just the thought of Luke insinuating that Corana, a girl in the program, was making him weak - how dare he. He was stronger than that, letting someone pull him down from his destiny was not something he'd ever let happen.

But the thought of possibly killing Corana at the end of this made him sick. He couldn't kill her, when in actuality he should be able to kill anyone needed that stepped in his way to the dark side. Ben thickly gulped. No, he couldn't kill her.

And if that was considered a weakness then so be it.

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 _Thank you guys for the reviews, follows, faves, you guys are the best! More to come, I love writing this! Tel me if any of the characters are OOC and I'll try my best to correct them!_


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Corana woke up bright and early like she had every morning here in the Jedi temple.

She wriggled her toes and stretched her limbs out from under the blankets, blindly blanking out the chatter from the younger female pupils that pranced about their barracks in their night time wear. Normally she's groggily pry her eyes open and stuff her face into the pillows but today was different, they were all hyped for the caves today, she couldn't be in a foul mood. She flung herself out of bed and made way for the large shared bathrooms to ready herself for today.

Ben had barely gotten a wink of sleep the night before. He sat on the window ledge gazing out to the large expanse of fields that surrounded the compound - at least he could find solace in losing himself in the view. All night he pondered on subjects he thought were not so easily changed. It strained him - the idea that he was weaker now because of one girl. Would Snoke be able to tell? He bit his lip. Snoke was powerful and could easily read Ben's mind. Hopefully he'd see her potential.

Every pupil gathered in the main room, the children standing silently as Luke had hushed them down with a smile, their excited chatter dying down instantly. Ben was the last to the room, Luke's eyes immediately settling on his form as he passed through the archway from the barracks. He glanced over at Corana, his brown eyes focusing on her - he noticed how she too had her attention drawn on their master, but a small smile was etched on her face and her fingers fiddled excitedly. He supposed it would be nice to get away from the younglings for a while.

The younglings pounced to their feet and darted around happily once Luke motioned for them to stand, all rushing to him to tell him how excited they were. Corana hung back, taking to her feet calmly, her eyes peering over her shoulder to Ben once Luke gave her the silent go-ahead to get going on their own expedition.

"To the cruiser?" Her voice sounded, warm with a slight hint of excitement, her eyes were quite the sight for someone who hadn't gotten a wink of sleep and woke up in a sour mood. It almost snapped him from his angry trance. She strode up in front of him and raised a brow, waiting for an answer.

He gave her a nod as a reply and began off toward the doors to the outside. It was beautiful out, not a fluffy cloud in the sky, just endless pools of blue cascading over their eyes. "We'll be going to the caves of Ilum to find you a crystal." He walked fast, his legs much longer than hers, striding through the brisk warm hair that hugged his body. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was still there, and she was, hurriedly trotting behind him with a smile on her face.

"Great!" Corana almost panted as she tried to keep up with him, it would have been easier had she not taken the time to stare in awe at the vast fields of grass and large pink petal trees. They rounded around the side of the temple and two ships came into view, the smaller personal cruiser Luke had for personal business and the larger ship that would accommodate the younglings on their own adventure.

Ben stopped in front of the cruiser and unclasped the large window so he could climb into the pilots seat. He leaned in and pressed a large yellow button which then undid the large pod window so Corana could climb into the gunners seat. He helped boost her into her pod before climbing up into his own, reaching up and closing the window over his head. "Make sure you're buckled in." He twisted around to glance at her seat, watching as she gripped at the metal clasp and wrapped it around her waist. A lump formed in his throat - Han would never take off when Ben was being lazy and refusing to do up his seat belt. Now Ben found himself doing the exact same. He huffed and grabbed at the controls on the panel in front of him.

The cruiser booted up with a multitude of different electronic noises and buzzing, a low hum rumbling from the engine as power had been connected. Ben double checked everything before pulling the handle back to gently lift the ship up off the cobble ground beneath them. In a split second the ship had jetted off into the blue abyss of space above them. Ben would occasionally glance back as he heard buttons being pressed behind him, Corana apparently feeling quite curious and turning the safety off on the attached gunners, she had begun to shoot at space rocks idly as the cruiser smoothly sailed through space.

"You know," she began as she twisted her torso around to glance into his section of the ship, wonderment in her eyes, "you said your dad wasn't a good teacher but you're a decent pilot."

Han wasn't _that_ great of a teacher, Ben silently admitted to himself, but he did manage to instill the basics of piloting into a young Bens mind without trouble. But that was the problem, the only thing Han could do with Ben was fly around and continue to tell him the same things over and over again. Ben shook his head. "Master Luke taught me everything besides the basics." He'd remembered those memories, Luke was a great teacher and when he had asked Ben what he knew about piloting he scoffed when Ben replied with _only the basics_. Luke berated Han the next chance he could.

They remained silent for the rest of the trip, both taking pleasure in just merely watching the stars zoom past their windows faster than they could see.

Ben straightened his back and peered forward, Ilum coming into plain view. "We're almost there." He heard Corana shift around in her seat and peer straight out through his window.

"We do have warm gear, right?" She shot him a side glance with scrunched brows. "I didn't even think of that."

"Master Luke said he always kept gear in the storage compartment."

As the cruiser descended down toward the planet, Corana tightened her grip on the headrest of her chair, still twisted around to watch Ben land the cruiser. "I've never touched snow before. Or ice that wasn't in a drink." Seeing the lands coated in white made her giddy and felt like a child on the eve of their birthday.

Ben raised a single brow. "Really?" He supposed he was well traveled, having been to Hoth on more than one occasion. He was indifferent to the snow, however; as one time he vividly remembered Han jokingly picking Ben up and tossing him into a large pileup of snow. He laughed at the time but now he could only shiver as he remembered how cold he was struggling to crawl out of the pile.

"Mm, my parents were farmers so we never really got to go anywhere that wasn't the bazaar in town or surrounding outposts." She explained as Ben occasionally glanced at the mapping system to his right, beginning to pull down into a field beside large ice coated mountains. Corana rubbed her hands together excitedly, hurriedly undoing her buckle and jumping out of her seat.

Ben couldn't help but grimace. She was childlike in that sense, just like the younglings back at the temple, it made his heart flutter a little bit to see her this happy over something he thought was so trivial. He undid his buckle and pushed his pod window open, snow flake already dwindling in through the open port. It'd been a long time since he'd been on a snowy ice planet, as he'd been training with Luke at the temple for a few years now. It'd be good to get out and clear his mind.

As he slid out of his compartment he watched Corana trudge through the snow toward the back of the cruiser, having troubles with walking apparently. He smirked. She'd pick her leg up with her hands and place it down into the snow before her. "I-it's hard to walk through!" She laughed easily as she looked back over her shoulder, the snow illuminating her face even though the night sky shrouded them in deep blue. But she continued to stumble on through the snow and once she reached the back of the ship and pushed the hood up to reveal beige bags of gear. "Here we are.." She whispered as she pulled a bag out of the back, setting it on the ledge of the ship before her.

Ben rummaged around and pulled another bag out, opening it to reveal winter pants and boots. He glanced over with a slight panic, they couldn't just take winter pants, they'd freeze. He looked down and with relief, he saw Corana pull thick beige winter jackets with large hoods. She pulled one on and greedily took a pair of winter pants and boots, completely decking herself out for the exposition.

Ben did the same, pulling on the winter gear coolly and doing up the clasps on the gloves. Corana pulled her hood all the way up on her head so it shadowed her face, he could only guess she was grinning under there, as she then stomped around in her new heavy boots. He kept his hood off his face as he didn't want his vision to be obstructed at all through the dark caves. He shut the trunk door and faced the opposite direction of Corana, pointing toward a dark entrance.

"We can start at that cave entrance." He looked over at her and when he saw her large hood nod in approval, he started off in the snow. Admittedly he struggled with the snow as well, this snowfall had been thick and heavy and felt like it was pulling his legs deeper in than he really was.

She dawdled behind him, occasionally stopping and running her gloved hands through the snow, not seeming to care that Ben was a good few meters ahead of her at this point. "There's no rush!" She called out to him, slightly afraid her voice would be lost in the large gusts of snowy winds but she saw him slow his pace down just a tad for her. With a small grin, she knelt down and gathered some snow in her hands and balled it up with excitement. "Target's within range..." Once she turned it into a perfect ball, she stood up, her eyes narrowing, she drew her hand back, and tossed the white ball through the air, only just nicking his shoulder.

Sheepishly she laughed as Ben turned around with a small grimace of his own. "I didn't take the winds into account." Corana tried to play it cool, jogging back up to his side.

They approached the cave entrance and Ben rummaged around in the winter jacket and found what he was looking for, a flashlight. He switched it on and pointed it around the large cave, revealing multiple caverns that turned down multiple routes and very steep drops. Ben began to take careful strides forward, as they were now on ice. "We have to be careful, it's all-"

He heard a thump. He snapped his head to the side and raised a brow as he saw her collecting herself from a fall, struggling to get back up. He extended a gloved hand, which she graciously took, and pulled herself upright. When she let go of his hand he reached up and plucked the hood off her head. "Keep it off so you can see where you're going."

She pet her hair back down as it had fallen into her eyes. "Okay." She extended her hand as Ben offered her the other flashlight he had packed away and flipped it around in her hands before turning it on and pointing it at random entrances. "Let's start there."

Corana carefully slid across the ice covered rock in the main cave system, eyes set on the small entrance to the path she declared was first. Ben followed behind slowly, browsing around the large system silently as he pointed the white light to different things in the caves, the stalactites in general, as they glistened under the light. He nearly bumped into her as he hadn't noticed she stopped to gaze down the cave in awe. "What are you looking at?" He beamed the light into the cave over her shoulder but realized then they didn't need it.

Kyber crystals that poked from the ice and stone lit the system up on their own, a rainbow of colors beaming off the walls to create a breathtakingly beautiful scene before the two. "The caves back home weren't this nice.." Corana murmured to herself as she strode in slowly, eyes and head going in all different directions to glance at anything and everything there was to see. "When you gathered your crystal, was it as nice as it is here?"

Ben tucked his flashlight back into his pocket and shook his head. "The caves Luke brought me to were just plain old caves." It was wonderful here. Ben loved it. He was definitely one for scenery, it was calming and made him forget all his worries, which despite his hatred for worrying he had a lot to worry about. "Do you have a preferred colour?"

She shrugged as she carefully and slowly walk down the middle of the spiraling room, showered in different colored lights like they were in some type of colorful vortex. "No not really.." She grazed her fingertips along the ice that covered the stone walls. "I'm thinking I'll just find _the one_."

Ben stood idly around in slight awe that such a place could exist. He'd even say that it was on par with the grove the two frequented during meditation. He'd never admit it but he enjoyed secluded places with lots of colors. He could get lost so easily in his surroundings, it wasn't a preferred trait he'd somehow acquired but a trait he'd take full advantage of.

"Hey look." Corana hummed in a soft tone as she crouched down, hood flopping over her eyes as she did so. When Ben knelt beside her, she swiped her hood back off her face. "A crevice, filled with lights." She pointed down into a black abyss, and at first he could see it, but as he leaned forward and squinted he indeed saw a crack in the stone just big enough for the two to wedge in. "I know I'll find it in there."

The crevice was slightly down a steep inclined rock in mostly darkness, as crystals didn't seem to have clustered around the crevice. Ben remained crouching, watching her like a hawk as she stood, cautious and weary of what she was doing. He shone the light down the incline and his brows furrowed. "Be careful."

"Don't worry." She mused as she patted herself down before making a course of action. She stepped over to the left and slightly crouched down to center her core before pushing off the ice, the boots on her feet slowly beginning to inch towards the slope. He smirked when she stuck her tongue out as she carefully maneuvered closer to the edge, and watched with slightly worried eyes as she then began to glide down the slope at high speeds. She continued to slip down the rocks at an accelerating speed and with no vision in the darkness, she couldn't spot the worry in Ben's eyes.

He took to his feet in an instant and held his hand out, 'grabbing' her body with his freezing technique he had been carefully honing, her acceleration halting to an immediate halt. He quickly let her go and she gasped, her eyes shooting up at him from the darkness. He'd never indulged her, or anyone for that matter, on his techniques with the Force. They were still in the learning stages and he wasn't one to show something half-assed. He knew she took no offense to keeping his Force powers under wraps, in fact she'd never inquired or even speculated on the matter, and like him, she never spoke of her own. He supposed between his two main powers he'd rather her know about the freezing than the mind reading.

She looked quite impressed down there, flashing her light on to shine it right on his face. "I'm learning new things about you everyday." She swirled around and headed toward the crevice in the rocks, inspecting it closely. "I see a lot of crystals in there, come on."

Ben, with a sigh, glanced around for his best route down. Corana was right with her decision, and he took the same way down, however; he learned from her mistakes and took it slow. When he regained his footing he pat his thick coat back down. He shone the light on the crevice and cocked his head a tad. "Will we even fit in there?"

"Sure we can." Corana stripped herself of her jacket and threw it inside the crack. "There we go." She whispered to herself and edged toward the opening, squeezing herself through the tight fit, her nose and breasts just barely able to pass through. When she made it through, she waved to him through the opening before wrapping herself back up in the jacket. "Tight fit but it will do."

She panned around to face the cavern, shell pink lips parting in awe, brows raising upward, eyes widening. "Wow." She whispers as Ben makes his way through the crack. It was a much larger room than she or Ben had expected, as they were expecting maybe a small room sized hole, but this was large. And clearly untapped as the walls glittered with untarnished crystals, lighting the place up like an aurora borealis. Blues and greens primarily lined the walls in large and small clusters with bright beams, and a few spots of red here and there.

She glanced back at Ben as he also straps his jacket back on his body. "Do you have the kit?" He nodded and fished around his robes pockets before handing her a small black zippered wallet of sorts containing small delicate tools for extraction. "Thanks."

Ben hung back while Corana ventured forth on her personal quest for her kyber crystal, clouded in darkness as she was clouded in light, his eyes watching her through the umbra. Luke was usually there for his students when they were going through 'The Gathering', so he wondered why exactly Luke had taken a step back and allowed the two to choose their own destination - but then it hit him. Luke was under the impression that Corana would loosen the 'grip' Snoke had on him. They never once said it to his face, but he knew they knew about his pull to the dark side. It seemed Luke had been pressing the two together more and more, the more Ben thought about it, the more he saw it. Oftentimes Luke would tell Ben he had to stop secluding himself from the others and force him to meditate with the younglings. Since Corana's appearance however; those requests stopped altogether.

Ben knew he struggled. The darkness was where he felt he belonged but... The pull and the urge to remain basking in the light was all too strong, it delayed his turn to the darkness, it was just so hard to turn his back on the people he knew. He watched Corana as she touched some crystals with a small smile. He would be forbade to be with her if he continued down the path of the Jedi. His face flared up with warmth and he tore his gaze away from her, eyes now looking down at the solid ice beneath his feet. She was flippant, he knew it, if he could just talk to her about Snoke-

"Hey Ben, look at this one.." Ben's eyes snapped up and all he could see was her back, she was facing a rather large cluster nestled in a small inlet in the ice. He strode over to her right side and glanced over her shoulder to see into the opening. "That one, there." Her slender finger pointed inside and to a gleaming crystal tucked behind a gathering of regular blue crystals.

"A Viridian crystal." Ben murmured in slight awe, not that he envied the crystal she had found, but he hadn't seen a Viridian crystal yet. He watched intently as she unzipped the tool kit and flipped the small silver tools in her fingers.

"Awkward angle... Here we go." She knelt down and reached both her arms into the crack, placing the tools into the correct position before chipping away at the stone and ice. He backed off and sat atop a rock a few meters away, watching her intently through the fog his hot breath created in front of his face. The sound of the tools clanged through the large circular compound they were situated in, small delicate _tings_ bouncing off the walls. It made him think of when he had harvested his own crystal.

This continued for a good ten minutes before Corana finally leaned back with a triumphant look on her face and a crystal in the palm of her hands. "I've got it!" She jumped to her feet and stared down at the long shard of silvery green crystal, hazel eyes large with admiration. "My own crystal..." She chirped, sliding over to the rock Ben was situated on.

But Ben had his eyes on something else. He felt a pull to the other side of the room, he was resonating with something. He tore his eyes away from the opposite side of the chamber and glanced back at Corana. He'd never seen her this joyous over something material before, he liked the way happy looked on her.

"Hold on.." He murmured, looking past her once more and taking a stand, he couldn't see it, but something felt like it was _vibrating_? His brows furrowed. 'What is it..' He thought to himself as he carefully paced across the ice and rocks toward the location of the humming, his curiosity getting the better of him. He glanced down into a pit and that's when he saw it - a deep red glow from the very bottom, surging with power and seemingly calling out to him silently. He felt his stomach turn - he was being called to it, a red kyber crystal. There were no immediate faults with a red crystal but... They were known as the colours for most Sith's and dark force users. ' _It's meant for me_.'

Without even thinking it through he took a small jog forward, sliding down the winding ice walls faster than he had anticipated. He reached the bottom and managed to skid to a halt right before the red crystal with the curious glow. He knelt down and touched it with the tip of his index finger. It was just barely poking out from the stone, he noticed, and it wouldn't even need tools for extraction. He wrapped his hands around the crystal and with some strength, he plucked it right from the ground.

"Ben, what is it?" He heard her call from above, her angelic voice pulling him from his trance for a brief moment.

The crystal was cracked. He flipped it through the palms of his hands, running his thumb over the twin cracks in its sides. It felt warm on his ungloved hand. "I'm coming down." She called out one more, but he was so stuck in his own mind that he had forgotten to tell her to be careful as the incline was much steeper than the other they had clambered down. He just stood there, brown eyes fixated on his new possession. He heard sliding and a small yelp of surprise - he turned instantly only to be pummeled into.

He flew back onto the ice and normally it would have only hurt a little bit but with her combined weight the fall was even more dreadful. He smacked the back of his head against the rock hard ice with a loud thump, shooting a painful shot throughout his body and blurred his vision. He blinked rapidly and soon enough the dots that clouded what he saw disappeared, leaving him with the view of Corana's face just a mere inches in front of his, her hot breath on his face.

Although the ice beneath his head made him cold Ben felt his entire face flare up with heat, and it wasn't just from the warm air escaping from her lips. He would have felt immensely embarrassed if it weren't for the fact that it seemed she share the same sentiment, her cheeks alight with color as well. Words hitched in his throat, but it wasn't like he was going to say anything - he didn't know what to say! Though they weren't on the same page with that one, because before he knew it, she bowed her head closer and pressed her lips to his.

It caught him completely off guard, completely and utterly off guard and surprised - but in no way, shape, or form, disgusted. In fact the obvious feeling was mutual, and he reciprocated the action. Had he thought that this day would result in a kiss? Absolutely not - of course he'd grown quite fond of the girl he immediately bonded with and had hopes in the back of his mind that she would take the step into the darkness with him, but he'd always think about the realistic way things would play out. Love showed weakness and it made him vulnerable and those were two traits he absolutely did not want people thinking he had. Though on the other hand these feelings made him feel good, and in some sort he felt stronger, like two halves were finally glued back together to stand stronger and more powerful than ever. He wanted to protect her from the dark side and the problems he wrestled with on a daily basis an in turn he felt the drive to become stronger.

He didn't know what to do, these feelings were conflicting and warring inside of him - but they felt so right. Having her at his side felt very natural and made him feel at home, a feeling he hadn't felt since he was a child, naive of what was happening around him. She brought the best out of him, and sometimes he admitted she brought the worst out of him, as he hated being bested in combat. She was there when his own flesh and blood wasn't. There was no way he'd leave her behind.

So having her kiss him at this exact moment in time was just what he needed.

Her lips were soft and tender and she smelt like roses - but that was all he could notice until she had jerked way instantly, hazel eyes bulging out of her head like a madman, but he knew it wasn't something that he had done, her eyes instead staring down at something just to the left of him.

"Your crystal!" She cried out, clambering off his body hurriedly, sitting beside where he could only assume was his newly found crystal.

He sat up immediately, the blush from his face somewhat draining as he squinted at the ground - his vision had been blurred from both the bang to the head and the flurry of emotions that washed over him during that brief kiss they had shared. Instead of seeing the one shard of red he had just been holding in his hand, he saw two, just a few inches away from the other. In his confusion he immediately darted for one, holding it up closely to his face. It still hummed lowly for him though it had been broken from the crash to the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" Corana panicked and grabbed the other half off the ground, holding it close to her chest before scanning his half over with worry in her eyes. "It's cracked! Is it big enough for you to keep?"

He turned it over between his thumb and his index finger before nodding in her direction, his dark hair almost falling into his eyes. "It was cracked beforehand." Ben found it funny how she fussed so heavily over the idea of breaking something that belonged to him. "No need to worry, it'll be fine." He wondered if she would question just why he had chosen a red crystal..

But she didn't. Instead she licked her lips and uncurled her fingers around the other half that had broken off, staring down at it with crestfallen eyes. She held her hand out in front of it in an offering motion.

"This piece is enough, really." He attempted to reassure her with a small nod. "You keep it." It was unusual for a padawan to keep more than one crystal during the gathering, as most only resonate with one on their journey.

She held it close to her chest, her shell pink lips turning upward into a small smile, the colors glistening off her round eyes, giving her a bright complexion. Once they both placed their halves of the crystal into their jacket pockets, Ben stood up tall, towering over her sitting frame, his shadow casting darkness over her.

She took his outstretched hand. "I wont tell if you wont." She whispered. A smile tugged at the edges of his lips and he nodded in agreement.

She glanced around the room and giggled a little bit. "Now, how do we get out."

Both Ben and Corana opened their pod doors once Ben had pulled the cruiser down to the landing pad beside the temple. "There's Master Luke.." Corana mumbled as she threw her legs over the pod entrance and hopped down to the concrete beneath, patting down her tunic to make sure her crystals were still intact.

The sun had set over the planet which only meant the younglings had been sent to their barracks already. Luke seemed pleased, as he had a smile on his face and arms crossed over his chest. He stepped forward as Corana jogged over with a smile. "Corana." He greeted warmly, seemingly glad to see the two had made it back safely. "How was The Gathering?"

"It was great Master Luke." She gushed with a smile, fishing her fingers into her tunic pocket, as she had already stripped herself of the winter gear. The tips of her fingers brushed up against the smaller crystal. It made her heart race, keeping such a thing secret, but for Ben she would lie. She showed Luke her crystal proudly, it shone under the light the moon had basked them in. "Ben says it's a Viridian crystal."

"Viridian it is." Luke plucked it from her fingers and held it up in front of the moon so the light shone over his face, a silvery green hue. "Great find." He placed it back into her hand and glanced over at Ben who had finally joined the two, now standing beside Corana. "How were the conditions on Ilum?"

"We had just arrived after a large snowfall." Ben started, his stoic front returning. "Where did you end up bringing the younglings?"

Corana phased the two out of her mind. She looked up at Ben, staring at his profile. His dark brown tresses almost fell into his eyes as he spoke. _Why are you always so withdrawn around Master Luke_. She wondered as they two continued to speak. He was their Jedi Master, and Ben's own Uncle at that, so it left her curious and confused as to why Ben did so. It wasn't often padawans got to see their family, so she would have assumed having your own uncle train you would be a blessing. But she never questioned it.

When the three had made way to the great chambers, Luke had bid his farewell, stating that he had to take care of a few reports back in his office, and he took off into the darkened hallway. Now they stood at the stairs. Two sets were before them, each winding the opposite way, one to the female barracks and one to the male barracks.

They both didn't admit it - but there was slight tension in the air between them. It was unnerving, especially since the day had gone according to plan - better than they both could have expected. But there were words left unspoken and it weight greatly on the two.

Corana was the first to brush it aside, her voice silent and low as it echoed off the tall walls of the main chamber. "Thank you." He hadn't noticed but she held her half of the crystal close to her chest. It felt warm to her. It was comforting. "For taking me."

Ben smiled and nodded in her direction. "I was glad to take you."

They bid their own farewells and disappeared into the darkness of their own staircases. Corana was silent as she stalked into the darkened room. She hadn't even bothered to dress into her night time wear as she couldn't see through the cover of darkness. She crawled atop her cot and slipped into the double layers of duvets and sheets, wriggling into them until she found a comfortable position. She reached into her own pocket and pulled out her Viridian crystal, setting it onto her bedside table with a small noise. She didn't do the same for her red crystal, though, she continued to hold it closer to her chest as she fell into a deep slumber.

Ben had done the same, in the respect that he too did not want to bother the sleeping children all around him. He hadn't slept the night before and to his surprise he could feel the need to sleep weighing down on him like a ton of bricks, so he instead did not make way to his windowsill he would sit at for hours. He sat on the edge of his bed for a moment, flipping the crystal around in his fingers for a few short lived moments before laying down atop the blankets and sheets, finally being able to take in a long deep breath and settle down for the day. Without even knowing, he had fallen asleep with his newly found crystal still clutched in his hands.

* * *

 _A lot longer than previous chapters, as you can tell. Sorry this one took a lot longer than usual, I went on vacation and typed a whole bunch of the story only to hit save and have the page refresh on me... Gah. Plus it was hard trying to think of a way I could progress their relationship without pushing it too hard, which I'll explain the kiss later on OwO.  
_

 _Things I've noticed... I type both the word color and colour, so I'm sorry if you noticed that as well, my personal computer and my work computer both take the different versions of the word so I'm constantly being told to have it one way or another OTL.._

 _Thank you all so so so so much for the faves, follows, and reviews! I love them, please keep them coming so I can continue progressing!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Why did I kiss him_. It was almost instantly from the second she awoke the next morning that she had remembered the events that conspired just the day before. Corana clenched her eyeballs shut and buried her face deep into her pillow, cheeks aflame with red. She pressed her lips into a thin line. _God I'm so stupid, we're in the Jedi program for Gods sake. It's forbidden!_ She let out an angry puff of air into the fluffy pillow. She argued with herself in her head, she'd stated that it felt right and she was never one to hold back on things she knew had to be done, but then her other side would drag her down and tell her that she had burned her relationship with him by making things more complicated than they rightfully should be. _He didn't push me away_. She attempted to reason. Ben wasn't always a stickler for rules but this was a large one and they had definitely crossed the line, so she figured if he hadn't fussed about it then she shouldn't either.

Corana unearthed her face from the pillow and nestled into the blankets so her eyes just barely poked out. Her Viridian crystal sat on her bed side table, while beside her pillow sat the red crystal. Her heart pounded as she darted for it, immediately engulfing it with her hand before the younglings would awake and see it. The last thing she needed was to be snitched on by the younger girls for her red crystal.

She sat up crossed legged and stared at it in her hand. "Why did Ben want this crystal..." She whispered with half lidded eyes. He already had a crystal that he'd been using for a while now. Was he not attuned to his first crystal? She shook it off. She didn't know, but having this half of the crystal reaffirmed her belief that they were meant to meet, their Force bond was strong, and she felt the power from this crystal - and so did he. Their bond was stronger than she once thought.

Ben was already awake, had been for a few hours now. It seemed Luke was letting the others sleep in past their scheduled waking hour, Ben had assumed that was because The Gathering had taken a toll on the younglings. So now he sat outside, sitting on the marble steps that led up to the large entry way to the temple, legs crossed, hands placed on his knees. He wasn't one for sleeping in.

The sun had disappeared this morn. Hiding behind blankets of grey that cast the lands with a dull light. Ben wondered if it would rain, he hadn't seen rain in quite a while as the weather had blossomed after the harsh winter they endured this turn. A slight breeze came and went, hugging his body for ten seconds before it drifted away. It was refreshing to have wind blow through his hair once more.

Luke sat beside him on the steps, he too sat cross legged with his hands on his knees, his sandy blonde hair blowing in the wind. He was content this morning, as like every morning, not a negative emotion played on his features. He wordlessly joined Ben only ten minutes prior, not even conducting a small meditation, so it left Ben wondering just why he had joined him.

"So, Ben." Luke started as he glanced over to the young man on his right, waiting to meet Ben's eyes to continue. "I've noticed the bond the two of you share." Ben raised a brow in his direction as a response. "Normally a Force bond occurs between a Jedi Master and their apprentice. In some way, shape, or form, you two will take on either of those roles." Ben nodded along to his Masters words, even if his suspicion grew. "If there was one thing you believe she can teach you, what do you believe that would be?"

Ben appreciated one on one sessions far better than having the younglings talk over and completely draw in Luke's attention. He needed to get all the training and mental training he could from Luke before he defected. So he looked away from Luke and actually gave it some thought, his brows twitching as he was lost in his thoughts. What _would_ he learn from her?

"Patience." It was simple, she was patient, and he wasn't, and he hadn't been grasping the concept well but he was on the path to learning. Eventually. "And perhaps the ability to see people for more than their skills." Had he been solely focused on what Corana could do instead of seeing her for the person she was he wouldn't have been in this current mindset. In addition he knew Luke would gobble this up.

Which he did. Luke looked incredibly pleased with his nephews answers, nodding along to every word with a warm hearty smile. Not only pleased but... Ben could see he looked somewhat relieved. It turned Ben's stomach.

Later that day just as their sparring session was drawing to a close, Ben felt _it_. Snoke had been calling to him in his mind. It hit him like a ton of bricks as he hadn't been called to for quite a while, just a month before Corana had joined the program. So as they had withdrew their weapons after a mighty clash, Ben took a step back and forced his eyes shut, it was like white flashes behind his eyelids followed by the faint feelings of a headache. He could hear his name being whispered in his mind.

"I got you good then, huh?" He heard Corana laugh from in front of him with a small gentle chuckle. She didn't know. That's why she joked. Ben drew in a long silent breath of air and his eyes opened just a tad to see her walking away toward the weapon rack to return her borrowed saber, as she hadn't constructed her hilt yet. He thickly gulped as he hitched his hilt to the belt around his waist. He could feel the sweat on the back of his neck turn cold. He needed to find seclusion, and fast.

By the time Corana had twirled around after setting her hilt down on the rack she cocked her head in confusion. "Where did he run off to so quick?" She pondered aloud as she darted her head every which way trying to spot him, which she figured wouldn't be all that hard since he was the tallest in this temple but apparently she was wrong.

She mentally scratched at her head. _Now I know I didn't best him in this spar, so was it something I said_? No, she knew he didn't take what she said to heart. So now she grew even more confused. He had promised he'd help her construct her hilt after sparring sessions, during their free hour, but now it seemed he either lied or had prior plans.

Something wasn't right. She could feel it twisting in her gut. But she shook it off and made way for the craft room, where all the construction of lightsabers went down.

The doors were already open, and when she took a step back, a barrage of yells came blasting her way and the small round faces of the children lit up like the trees in spring festivals. "Corana! Are you going to make your hilt with us?" A young Twi'Lek girl cheered with a toothy smile, her large amber eyes looking hopeful as all the younglings enjoyed her company.

"I am!" Corana smiled back as she pulled a chair up to the large polished table that could fit a large handful of kids, including Master Luke at the head as he helped the children. She couldn't help but admit she wished Ben was here. As much as she loved the children, constructing her hilt with Ben was something she had been looking forward to.

As soon as she placed her crystal on the sleek wood of the table the young girl snatched it and held it in front of her large amber eyes, sparkling with awe. "Sooo pretty!" She gushed happily, handing it over to the other young Twi'Lek girl by her side. "Mine's just blue!" She held her own own up before Corana, a shard of deep blue color.

"It's not _just_ blue, Usi, it's _your_ blue." Corana finally managed to get her crystal back once it had seemingly circulated around the table, Luke plopping it down into her hands from where he sat.

"Ben isn't joining us today?" Luke had questioned as he rummaged through a large toolkit for a specific tool head he needed. He looked genuinely surprised.

Corana shook her head. She'd cover for him. "No. I bested him in combat today and he stated he wished to practice more outside." She told Luke, as much as she hated lying, she'd prefer to keep Ben's personal business his own, aside from Luke. She reached over and flipped through a metal contained with different sized crystal chambers until she found one appropriate for her shard and given focusing crystal.

"Ah." Luke seemed to buy it, as he didn't sound too perplexed. "Besides, Ben crafted his own saber quite a while ago."

Luke couldn't feel it, but she knew she certainly could. It was something that tugged at her innards and made her feel slightly nauseous, she could tell something was wrong and Ben hadn't just _run off_ like she previously believed. She wanted desperately to run off and find him buts he knew he needed his privacy. _Ben, are you okay_?

Ben's eyes flickered a tad as another voice rang through his mind. It was Corana. Chills ran down his spine and he tried to brush her away desperately, he couldn't be speaking with two at the same time - and he needed her gone before _he_ noticed. But it was too late. Snoke had noticed he was caught off guard and drew silent.

 _What's this_. His voice alone sent shivers down Ben's spine. It was something he knew he had to grow accustomed to once he left the Jedi for good. But for the time being, Snoke's presence still slightly intimidated him. _Another on your mind_.

Ben squared his jaw. He had taken to a large gathering of thick trees and dark shrubs that would easily hide his form from prying eyes. He felt a pit in his stomach and the hairs on his neck stand up - there was no hiding her from Snoke, as much as he had been hoping she'd slide by his radar. The last thing he wanted was some tangled mess where Snoke would work her like he had Ben.

"She's strong." He stated, his voice barely making it past the dense flora that surrounded him. He'd rather Snoke be under the impression that she was a powerful piece in his game than a weakling Ben was distracted by. "We Force-Bonded almost immediately."

 _Mmm_. He heard Snoke hum in his mind, reverberating in his head, like a tune he wanted desperately to forget.

"Her allegiance to the Jedi order is held only be a thread." He knew Snoke wouldn't hear past those words, anything related to wavering alliances Snoke was all over. "She would be a great asset to our side. If; however, she fails to meet expectations I will not hesitate to end her along with the others."

Corana twisted her shard into the primary crystal mount with a small huff, using whatever strength she could muster from her arms into twisting it into a secure position. She licked her lips and glanced around the room somewhat nervously, her hazel eyes darting every which way. She felt antsy and skiddish, so she could only imagine what was going on with Ben.

Snoke had dispersed from Ben's mind space, apparently having no qualms with recruiting yet another young teenager into his dark side army he was crafting. Ben sighed and pressed his cold fingertips to his temple, letting his eyelids flutter shut. Why he made such a bold promise he couldn't understand - he wouldn't hesitate to end her? He breathed in noisily and shook his head at his own decisions. Of course he would. Sometimes he'd even let her win in sparring because seeing her look so proud in her fighting prowess made him happy. Bringing any sort of harm her way was the least likely thing he'd do.

He glanced back toward the temple with hazy eyes. He couldn't go back in there right now - his face was as white as untarnished parchment and his fingers trembled relentlessly, adrenaline coursing through his veins as if it were blood. He hated - _despised_ \- this feeling that washed over him like a strong tide in a storm, the feeling of anticipation, and not giddy in the slightest. Snoke rearing his head around only meant one thing and it was never just a pop in _hello_ to Ben, it meant time was drawing close.

"From the first day you set foot into this temple." Corana glanced over to Luke just as she set the energy gates into place in the crystal chamber, slightly caught off guard as she had sunken deep into her thoughts. Luke smiled as he finished helping a welp with their crystal. "When you had sparred Ben for the first time I knew you two had bonded almost immediately. I know you know what that means."

She sent a half nod in his direction. "Normally a Force Bond is shared between the Master and Apprentice."

"Yes." Luke placed an empty hilt atop the vibrant wood. "Now, it doesn't have to suite the conventional way of putting those roles. I had been wondering for a while, but let's say one of you had to be the teacher and let's say that was Ben. What do you believe you could learn from him?"

Corana had to admit Luke's one on one questioning was something off norm. She'd noticed he'd loosened the leashes on both her and Ben this past little while, giving them almost free reign on a lot of what they chose to do with their training, leaving them to bounce mistake's off each other and learn from one another. It was nice to be checked up on.

"Hmmm." She hummed, glancing away from Luke's blue eyes to stare into nothing, tapping her fingers along the creaseless wood of the table. Being put on the spot was never something she liked so she fumbled to get a reply right away. "I know he is very in-tune with his abilities, and sometimes I falter with such things, so I believe he will teach me how to better myself in that aspect. He always reassures me that I am a competent learner." Luke smiled, so she smiled. "So perseverance."

Next was the heavy training - aka, the part Corana liked the least, as they had all put their hilt crafting on hold. Ben stood on the other side of the younglings, and it cooled the burning ache in her belly that something had gone awry with him. She'd glance over his direction every time Luke would look away, and to her surprise, her eyes were never met back like they usually were from Ben's brown eyes - instead he stared ahead, silent as ever. The feeling in her stomach may have dulled for the time being but she still felt an underlying issue.

Even as the sun had set over the horizon and the light turned to a deep orange they hadn't spoken. They made their separate ways to their barracks without even a shared look. It wasn't too unusual, sometimes they just were in no mood for chit chat in some days and instead meditated or sparred wordlessly, but today was different.

Corana crawled in bed and stared up at the ceiling. She could barely see it in the pitch black, the only sliver of light she could see was from the window in the far part of the room, and even then a large strung up curtain had sheltered her cot away from the younger girls, leaving her in her own dark corner to brood.

He finally worked up the nerve to answer her. The call she had asked whilst he was being prodded by Snoke, he had ignored her all this time. But now he sat at the windowsill, watching as the two large moons slowly circled the planet, a hazy white light washing over his face, illuminating his sunken in features that had weighed down throughout this taxing day.

After all it was the first time they had communicated through their bond. It was an amazing feat and he had ignored it. It was an easy decision though, he wanted desperately to speak to her - but he was choked and at a loss for words after his meeting. She didn't know of his real allegiance but he felt already as if he had disappointed her somehow. He wanted to pry away from her tight grasp on him but even half a day trying to forget her was too much.

 _I'm okay_.

* * *

 _Wahhh, Snoke is rearing his ugly head. I like exploring the firm hand Snoke has on Ben, it's pretty enticing.  
_

 _Thanks for the PM's, reviews, faves, and follows! Glad to know people like it!_


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